Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 26, 1992 TAG: 9201280345
SECTION: ECONOMY PAGE: 13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TEXTILE COMPANY TURNING IT AROUND
Ronald Boarman's textile company filed for bankruptcy reorganization last June, leaving its future and that of 250 employees more than shaky.By July, partly because it got protection from creditors, Twin City Textiles Inc. was making money again.
"A substantial profit," said Boarman, one of three partners. "All things considered, it's been a remarkable six months."
Boarman is still a chain smoker. And the company's still compiling its reorganization plan for the bankruptcy court in Greensboro. But many things are different.
The company moved its headquarters from Winston-Salem, N.C., to its Roanoke plant on Sixth Street Southwest. It closed a distribution center on Melrose Avenue in northwest Roanoke and sold its small Kik-Kin division that made maternity clothing.
Twin City, parent of Roanoke Dyeing and Finishing and Valley Apparel, cinched in like Scarlett.
It cut its break-even poundage by a third. The plant processes some 350,000 pounds of material a week and meets its costs at 135,000, Boarman said.
Many of the current 275 employees have taken on multiple jobs. Customers also have assumed more of the processing costs and suppliers have been kind in extending credit, he said.
Boarman said he and the other owners, John Caire and Wilfred Gaus, have cut their incomes.
"It's been brutal," said Boarman. "Employees really dug in."
Annual business volume is down by a fourth, to $30 million from $40 million, Boarman said, but he said the company is handling about all it can in its new leanness and lack of operating capital.
The Twin City operations dye fabric and sew T-shirt-type items for other companies.
Overall, the textile business is not as bad "as you hear," Boarman said.
The retail uncertainty that is largely a product of reluctant purchasers may end up being an advantage for companies like Twin City, he said.
Stores might place seasonal orders later than usual, which means they will be more likely to buy from U.S. companies than from foreign ones because of shipment time. And those U.S. companies could be Twin City customers.
Will Twin City survive? Its owners hope so, but aren't speculating about it.
The outlook for growth in Virginia's textile industry is unexciting. The Virginia Employment Commission forecast for jobs projects a 0.7 percent growth for 1992 and 0.4 percent for 1993.
There are some 38,500 people working in textiles in the state, the VEC said. Anticipated growth would increase jobs by 300 this year and another 200 next year.